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Local book clubs - in person, or on-line?
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I have 3 book clubs that all tried zoom during quarantine, but now are back in person and I have to say I hate zoom. It is not conducive to handle intense discussions because it is harder to guage someone wants to speak, especially for members who might be more reserved or shy. In person I can check body language queues or even hear someone maybe start to talk when we are in the same room and I can't do that on zoom. I tend to be a talker and I can check myself more in person, so zoom really makes me anxious. We also had a member fall asleep on our zoom meet-up once, but she didn't fall!
Curious how other people feel.
I don't think zoom is quite as fun, but I bet some find benefits to that method.
Not a Zoom fan either, not for anything. Nancy, I am not in a book club but our Library is also being very careful. We had to cancel our Sept. week long book sale ( I am on the Friends board there) and go to plan B, which is 1 day sale outside in the parking lot. The mandates come from the State Library board and here in Michigan they are anticipating the worse is yet to come.....*bleah* another fall/winter in confinement....any one have a deserted Island to rent out?
Not a fan of virtual meetings in general either, except for those times where an in person meeting is difficult because of distance, or it's a short practical status sort of meeting where the task is clear and everyone know each other. I'm a lot like Meli, a talker and a diplomat (in trying to have people compromise and find solutions) and I need to feel the room. I host two kids book clubs at work and we met in person in May and June. we're picking up after summer break end august and are meeting in person again. We're outside if possible, I'm vaccinated, and they're not in a risk group so it feels fine.
Before the pandemic, I belonged to a library mystery book group. That stopped and has never restarted even though the libraries are now open. Our local Senior Center started a Zoom book group about a year ago. It has worked pretty well. We were planning to start meeting in person in August but with the new variant and the fact that all our members are over 60 years old, we are staying on Zoom. If we were to meet in person, we would have to wear masks, sit far apart and have no treats, so that isn't enticing.For older participants, sometimes online is preferred because of issues with driving or mobility.
Oh yes, I agree a virtual meeting is better than no meeting (regarding book clubs. Work wise I could do with fewer or more efficient meetings all round).
Johanne wrote: "@Joanne, sadly no, no extra island ;)"You sure Johanne, seems to be a lot of water around you! LoL-but then I need one that is some place warm and sunshiney🌞
Oh yes, lots of islands, but there are other inhabitants. There are some with only a few living on them, but sunshine and warm weather is ... not guaranteed.
My F2F book clubs -Club # 1 - meeting in person, and we're back at the local cafe where we used to meet pre-pandemic. (everyone is vaccinated)
Club # 2 - meeting in person, and we're back to our dinner meetings at various local restaurants (or sometimes in a member's home ... hostess's choice). (everyone is vaxed)
Club # 3 - meeting in person, and we're back to meeting at a local restaurant for appetizers & sangria, preferably on the patio (weather permitting) (everyone is vaxed)
Club # 4 - This university-based group switched to strictly on-line and it's been a disaster. Virtually none of the regular attendees in participating, though they did attract quite a number of new people to the format, but there's really little discussion. Spending two months occasionally checking into a digital chat just is NOT working.
Club # 5 - A hybrid ... those who are comfortable doing so meet at a member's home. She has a large screened porch, and a large-screen smart TV her husband hooked up for us, so we can simultaneously zoom (though they use a different platform). This hybrid seems to be working. Once the weather gets too cold (Nov / Dec?) we'll switch to entirely zoom.
Club # 6 - This university-based club only ever met two or three times per year. They've scheduled just one session this past Spring, which unfortunately fell when I was taking a trip to Texas. Haven't heard anything about a fall session, though typically they met in Sept. They can have attendees spread out in the university library's conference room.
BookConcierge - I'm exhausted just looking at the list of IRL book clubs! And feeling anxiety to OMG read that many books for deadline all the time! I think you belong to more than my friend Ellen - in fact I know you do. I belong to 1 IRL book club - Feminerdy Book Club. It was started in and affiliated with The Astoria Book Shop in Astoria, Queens - the 'Greek' section of Queens just across the river from Manhattan. While a general bookstore, it primarily promotes and centers around mystery, fantasy and scifi genres, with a big section of childrens and YA books too given the neighborhood. I'm not clear quite who or how Feminerdy started a couple of years ago as I only ended up going at first when my friend Ellen (she of the many book clubs) mentioned they were discussing Game of Thrones at next meeting and thought I'd like to go. I did and enjoyed it. I do remember that at the initial meetings, a store person was always there along with a couple of folks who worked for publishers (who kept pushing their next or recently published fantasy or sci fi to be read - this did bother me - but they really weren't that regular attending). Not being a particularly avid reader of Sci Fi and Fantasy genres, I was at first sporadic attendee - only going when they were discussing a book that I had read or was about to read. Before pandemic, the group had dwindled to about 6 or 7 regulars and was still in person at the bookstore.
When COVID hit in March 2020, the organizer switched that planned meet to a Room on FB - and at the meet, 5 of us showed up, had a great discussion, and agreed we would continue monthly virtually. That's how we continue. It's worked really well for us, discussions are animated. All of us spend enough time in virtual meetings as participants and organizers that we can manage it pretty well - everyone gets to talk as much as they want or need. It's also only 5 people...size of group makes a difference. None of us are particularly shy either. Oh and the age range is wide --- 1 in 70s, 1 in 60s, rest are somewhere in 30s maybe late 20s.
That's where we stand. It's still the same core 5 --- no one else has ever shown up or even commented on our FB or GR pages about what's being read or about attending. The Astoria Book Shop seems to have erased us completely from their website, their calendar, their newsletter even though we regularly send them what we are reading and when we are meeting virtually. Not really sure if we are still considered by Astoria or ourselves as affiliated.
We will clearly have to discuss whether we return to in person meetings again and whether they will be at Astoria or elsewhere. Astoria is still not holding any events in the store, everything is still virtual. That's true of bookstores across NYC. I have no idea what the libraries are doing -- most only fully reopened in Mid-July.
Feminerdy is going to do an outdoor in person meeting somewhere in October - as a picnic - just to see each other in person again. The 5 of us are not all that comfortable beginning in person again on a regular basis and we need to deal with location, whether we are still affiliated with Astoria, and the fact that we all live in different boroughs and some could have 2 hours commutes to get to an in person.
Stitching groups are still mostly virtual although some are starting to plan in person events again. I find for me virtual stitching groups don't work that well - and not just because my stitching mojo seems to have taken a hike. For me it's the set up. I'm set up for virtual meetings for work -- lighting works for that not for stitching. Plus I'd have to sit at my desk in my office chair for more hours, not in a comfy chair. Nor do I want to have to redo the set up every time I want to stitch with a group. So I don't participate but they have a very loyal attendance. When it will resume in person will depend on when someone feels comfortable opening their home --- that could be a while.
The local needlework shops are mostly not doing in person stitching and classes - remaining virtual.
Theresa wrote: "BookConcierge - I'm exhausted just looking at the list of IRL book clubs! And feeling anxiety to OMG read that many books for deadline all the time! I think you belong to more than my friend Ellen ..."Not all these clubs meet monthly. And I don't attend every meeting. For example, I really have no desire to read another self-help book telling me how to deal with getting older (one of my group members keeps suggesting such books). I just skip those meetings. Of course I DO attend every meeting of the two groups I coordinate, but one of those meets only 6 times a year. All the groups ... well not the university one that just switched to a totally virtual format ... announce the books far in advance, so I'm usually reading months ahead, and, of course, any book I recommend for a group is one I've already read, so I don't re-read it.
I only regularly attend one of my two book clubs. The other has been much more sporadic, though it was beneficial to me when they were meeting online. 1. my non-regularly attended book club - has started meeting in person again - but outside. It's further for me and I don't drive, so I doubt I will go back unless they meet online, again. This book club was also much slower to switch to online when covid first hit.
2. My regularly attended book club is still using Zoom. We took a vote last month and someone suggested even if there was one person uncomfortable with meeting in person, she was happy to stay online (and others agreed). There were two of us who spoke up who really prefer to stay online for a while yet.
We also normally meet at the "community centre" (which is no longer owned/run by the community association, but it is a theater company who owns the building. So, even if we wanted to meet in person, we'd likely have to "clear" it with the community association (who continue to do their meetings via Zoom) and the theatre.
We have a new neighborhood bookclub that met twice this summer in-person. When I called the library to reserve a room for September, the librarian recommended the large community room that can hold 10 times the number of people we expect because the requirements are about to change. Everyone who came last time was vaccinated at least.
My regular bookclub is still planning to meet in person in September (we don't meet during the summer). We haven't met in person since covid began. Our last zoom meeting was dreadful. (One woman fell asleep and practically fell off her chair.)